Various insulative products or combinations of insulative products can be used to insulate buildings. Some of the insulative products include spray foams, loosefill insulation, board insulation and batts of insulation.
Spray foam insulation can include materials that are mixed at the building site and applied with a sprayer. The sprayer can be configured to introduce the spray foam insulation into joints, cavities, and penetrations of the building ceilings, floors and walls. In contrast to spray foam insulation, loosefill insulation includes a multiplicity of discrete, individual tufts, cubes, flakes, granules or nodules. Loosefill insulation can be applied to buildings by blowing the loosefill insulation into insulation cavities, such as sidewall cavities or an attic of a building. Loosefill insulation can be made from glass fibers, although other mineral fibers, organic fibers, and cellulose fibers can be used. Loosefill insulation can be applied using blowing insulation machines.
Board insulation can include extruded or expanded cellular materials formed into panels or boards. In some instances, the board insulation can be used for structural support of subsequently applied construction materials. Board insulation can also be installed or positioned into building insulation cavities.
Batts of insulation can include fibrous materials, such as the non-limiting example of glass fibers, and can be applied within cavities of the building.
In some instances it may be desirable to retrofit existing buildings with insulation. The existing buildings can have insulation cavities that are covered by common construction materials. As one example, the insulation cavity can be located in a wall structure and covered on an exterior side by sheathing and covered on an interior side by drywall.
It would be advantageous if insulation cavities in existing buildings could be insulated in an efficient, easy to apply manner with minimal damage to the existing building.